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Pharma in the Plumbing Flushed Away
The planet may still be paying for the cold you had last
choking on industrial sludge, traces of drugs seemed a
winter. If it was a bad one, you probably took medicine.
small matter. It would take until the 1990s for that view
Maybe you rinsed the little dosing cup in the sink every
to change. That was when pharmaceutical estrogens,
time you used it. Maybe you finished the bottle and threw
principally from birth control pills, began showing up in
it in the trash. What you surely did several times a day
the water too, leading to male fish with androgynous sex
was go to the bathroom — perhaps more than usual if
organs. Scarily, it did not take much estrogen to affect
billionths of a gram, per liter of lake water.
passed straight through you. What all this
means is that while you were taking your
The planet is also paying for your dad's
hypertension, your aunt's high cholesterol
pharmaceutical soup our drinking water had
and your colleague's throat infection, all of
become. Even a partial list of the drugs
chemical residue then leaked into sewers
antidepressants, anticonvulsants, tranquil-
lizers, antibacterials, antipsychotics, ACE
inhibitors, nitroglycerin, steroids, ibuprofen
prescription pharmaceuticals in use in the
U.S. and thousands more over-the-counter
But the mere fact that so many drugs have
off. "Between cosmetics, pharmaceuticals
have become so refined that even the most
and other sources," says John Spatz, commissioner of
inconsequential levels of contaminants cannot elude
Chicago's department of water management, "there are
detection. "Some of these concentrations are thousands
80,000 potential combinations of chemicals." It's
of parts smaller than what could be of pharmaceutical
impossible to keep our drinking supply safe from a gusher
concern," says Robert Renner, director of the Water
like that. Wastewater from homes gets treated at sewage
Research Foundation, a nonprofit group that evaluates
plants, but it's never possible to remove every trace of
water safety. "We're aware that they're there only
drugs. What's more, sewage pipes break, septic tanks
because we're measuring at parts per billion."
overflow, and in some parts of the U.S. "straight-piping"
— which sends untreated sewage flowing directly into
surface water — is still practiced. One way or another, the
So just how worrisome are pharmaceuticals when they're
so thoroughly diluted? A study described in a recent
AMWA report estimated that at the highest levels ever
detected for the antianxiety medication meprobamate, a
Pharmaceutical pollutants are worrisome for reasons
person would have to drink 1.24 million gal. (4.7 million
beyond their mere numbers. They're also specifically
L) in a day to ingest even a safe therapeutic dose. Not all
designed to be reactive with human tissue. If they
drugs are present at such vanishingly small levels. Some
weren't, they'd be useless. In March, Lisa Jackson,
are much higher, though for now they too are far below
administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
the danger threshold. More troubling, nearly all research
(EPA), announced that Washington is formulating new
conducted so far looks only at short-term exposure — one
rules to regulate all contaminants in water, including
day's consumption of one chemical. What it doesn't take
drugs. The measures will include better enforcement of
into consideration is what happens over the course of
existing regulations, closer coordination with states and
years or decades, particularly when multiple drugs
development of new water-treatment techniques. "We are
identifying contaminants at a much faster pace than we are addressing them," she warned in an address to the
The EPA acknowledges that studies on that topic must still
Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies (AMWA) in
be done but stresses that there is no reason to panic. "We
are concerned but not alarmed by the very low levels of
pharmaceuticals that have been detected in water," says
Peter S. Silva, assistant administrator of the EPA's Office
In the 1970s, scientists began detecting pharmaceutical
of Water. Adds another agency official: "We need more
residue in waterways, but in an era when rivers were
Pharma in the Plumbing – TIME ON LINE – April 1, 2010
Proper disposal of pharmaceuticals helps, and some
communities have set up take-back centers for leftover
Whatever danger does exist, it's hard to know what to do
meds in police stations and other public facilities. All
about it. Bottled water may help a little, but it's no
those drugs are disposed of in nonpolluting ways and thus
guarantee of safety, the EPA warns, since merely labeling
are kept out of landfills. But this addresses only about
a product "ultra-filtered" or "spring-water" is no proof of
its cleanliness. Some risk is mitigated naturally,
pharmaceuticals passing through the body and into the
depending on where you live. Despite serving about 3
sewage system — a nonnegotiable pollution source if ever
million people, the Chicago water system is comparatively
clean. "We take our water from Lake Michigan, which is
For now the answer might hinge on better technology,
pretty pristine," says Spatz. "And our wastewater flows
with the EPA and other groups working to develop new
away." Colorado and other points west are a different
cleaning techniques, improve others and lower the cost of
matter, since many towns dot the Colorado River, and
ones that work well but are still too expensive. It's well
and good if our drugs keep us healthy — but not if they
make the water supply sick in the process.
Pharma in the Plumbing – TIME ON LINE – April 1, 2010